Interactive geographic maps, e.g., maps provided by a web map service, can provide a visual representation of a geographic region. An interactive geographic map for a particular geographic region can also describe various features that appear in the particular geographic region. For example, an interactive geographic map can describe line features, e.g., roads and rivers, area features, e.g., countries, parcels, forests, and lakes, and point features, e.g., villages and cities. Each feature in an interactive geographic map can be labeled, e.g., annotated, by positioning, near the feature and in the interactive geographic map, one or more labels that describe the feature. For example, an interactive geographic map that includes a point feature referencing the city of San Francisco can be labeled by placing a label “San Francisco” near the point feature.
Thus, a given interactive mapping application may need to efficiently choose what features (e.g., buildings, parks, lakes, oceans, cities, countries, etc.) to label and where to place those labels. Computerized methods can be used to automatically position respective labels near features in an interactive geographic map. These computerized methods can also apply various algorithms to optimize the placement of labels for features in an interactive geographic map. For example, various algorithms can be applied to position labels in an interactive geographic map in a manner that places such labels near or at the center of a given feature(s).